Remember a few years back I wrote about how promising new Kansas City Star sports columnist Sam Mellinger was? That Sam the Man was no sham.

Which at a falling Star was no small feat. Especially given that Sam I Am was heir apparent to the newspaper’stwin sports peaks, Jason Whitlock and Joe Posnanski.

Remember those dudes?

Whitlock and Posnanski weren’t perfect, but they played the role in the sports pages of the Star and in their sundry flirtations with sports radio stations WHB and 610 Sports.

Whitlock became the Clown Prince of Kansas City sports.

By manufacturing feuds with big shots like former Kansas City Chiefs main man Carl Peterson; kissing up to KU basketball deity Bill Self; pimping thin-skinned readers about racism and hip-hop music and culture; pretending former footballer Jeff George was the second coming of Joe Namath and the Chiefs should sign him; courting strippers; extolling a love of Gates Bar-B-Q; and bragging about his mother’s soul food.

I leave anything out?

JoePo majored in overwrought, flowery, wordy sports epistles.

Yet while Jolting Joe had a loyal following and won his share of writing awards, he was gutless. So if you didn’t have the time or the depth of interest in sports to wade through his endlessly long masterpieces, he was easy for many to overlook.

All of that said, the pair had comparatively massive local followings, the likes of which Mellinger and that long-in-the-tooth Gregorian character the Star brought in from St. Louis, would kill to replicate.

Early on, I honestly thought Mellinger had a shot – not of eclipsing but measuring up to his forebears.

Far less a bullshitter than Jason and nowhere near as effusive and JoePo – not to mention well over a decade their juniors – the sky was the limit for Mellinger and he got off to a good start.

Tonight the Chiefs played their best first half of the season on both sides of the ball…

Tight end Travis Kelce became an NFL superstar with four straight 100 plus yards in receiving (only done by two other tight ends, one being Tony Gonzalez).

However no question, THE MAN for KC’s offense was Tyreek Hill.

Hill caught a mini bomb from Alex Smith for a TD in the second quarter. He followed the with a punt return for his second TD of the game. Where would we be without Hill? He now has nine TD’s to lead the Chiefs with more to come.

Alex Smith had his best first half of the year with 200 yards passing, but second half issues slowed the offense and Smith. Continue reading →

This is a failure of mainstream media, looking for a scapegoat to take the blame for missing Donald Trump‘s election by so much.

People believe what they want to believe. If they didn’t get it from Facebook, they’d get it from the person next door. This is not limited to the digital age. Do you think no one got it wrong back in the pre-media days?

Of course they did. Society runs on gossip and shading and he who can garner the most attention wins in the end.

And mainstream media has squandered its power and lost eyeballs in the process.

Let’s start with television news.

It’s biased.

Forget network news, it’s a joke. Appointment television in an on demand world is akin to pay phones in an era of mobile handsets. Only a tiny subset of Americans are gonna tune in at 6:30. As for the local news, that’s been a joke for decades, just ask Don Henley, all bubble-headed bleach blonds joking with their compatriots with news a secondary item. If it bleeds it leads and if you’re interested in murder and cat rescues you might be satisfied, otherwise you’ve tuned out.

And speaking of satisfaction, the anchors left at CNN are so self-satisfied as to have you wondering who these people are.

Who made Wolf Blitzer king?

If you think the man has gravitas, you’re probably still paying fealty to your second grade teacher – give me a break. Continue reading →

Makes me want to give up my membership in the card-carrying elite – the educated members of our society who can hold two opposing thoughts in their brain at the same time who just can’t fathom that Trump won and want to keep focusing on his inadequacies.

Just because you worked hard to get where you are that does not mean the less fortunate are ignorant people who should pay fealty to you. You rail against the corporations who whipsaw this country without acknowledging that they depend upon the purchases of the rank and file, so why do you have no sympathy for the service workers who grease the skids of your life, the barista, the waitress, the street sweeper, the gardener, the nanny?

The list goes on and on of people who can no longer make it here.

And yet you keep talking about your feelings. The microaggressions, the rights of African-Americans, women and every oppressed minority extant.

Enough with the feelings, IT’S MONEY THAT PEOPLE WANT!

Sure, the trauma your people experienced in the old country, the burden of the color of their skin, those are real problems that need to be addressed, but not now.

Trump won by appealing to those who felt screwed by the present administration.

Oh, that’s right. Obama couldn’t do much because of an intractable Republican Congress.

That’s true! But that fact does not help the disadvantaged.

When is the left wing gonna speak to the Trump voters instead of deriding them?

Try criticizing your spouse, telling him or her they’re clueless, let me know how that works out, when he or she comes around to your way of thinking.

The left wing disconnected from its traditional base, all caught up in the successes it earned, and now that base has given it the middle finger. And what do the entitled and the powerful do? Cry all about it, as if they’ve got no powers of reasoning, never mind powers of cash and relationships.

Let’s start with the news media making fun of Trump tweeting.

First of all, I’ll agree with the Donald that SNL hasn’t been funny for years. Ever hear of a punch line? But reporting on his thin skin is not gonna bring his acolytes to your side, no way.

And re the Carrier debacle, wherein Indiana gave financial incentives to save some jobs… Do you really think gotcha is gonna grab the right wing right now, when they didn’t care that Trump grabbed so much and was revealed to do so during the campaign?

Business as usual is not going to solve our problems.

And you can start with the media.

Scolding Trump and wagging its finger over his appointments. They’re no better than the Republicans who never proffered an alternative to Obamacare. Don’t like what’s going on, work to change it!

But the left won’t do this, no way, it’s too entrenched in its lifestyle.

While the Republicans started the Federalist Society, to move jurisprudence to the right, supported gun rights and decided to focus on the states to restrict abortion…the Democrats were asleep at the wheel, saying most of the public was with them.

I agree with that, but it’s IRRELEVANT!

Who cares if Hillary won the popular vote, by the rules that are written Trump was victorious. What’s next, challenging the outcome of a football game, claiming that in certain burgs you get five downs?

Then again, that’s the left wing for you, believing it can bend the rules. Scratch a rich person and you’ll find someone working the edges, while simultaneously boasting how honest and ethical they are. Continue reading →

The Chiefs had a six game stretch of games against playoff teams or close…

Beating Denver on the Bronco’s home court was the first. Yesterday’s road game against one of NFL’s best offensive teams, Atlanta and Matt Ryan, was the second. Our boys were a big underdog, by as many as 6 points. However Chiefs QB Alex Smith, had one of his better games this season, throwing 25 passes and missing only 4! Damn.

Smith threw for 270 yards and a big 29-28 win.

The story of the game was Eric Berry. The Chiefs safety who is having his biggest year ever had two interceptions for scores – an INT off Ryan for six, the other, a game winner, was a 2 point return off Ryan when he attempted a two point conversion on Atlanta’s last score.

Berry has gone the field three times this season already.

The Chiefs defense was nothing like it had been against the Broncos. Justin Houston was used somewhat and did record a sack, but missed some of the game on the sideline. Dee Ford was back but had no huge impact.

The Chiefs couldn’t stop the run and Ryan was cutting the Chiefs up in the first half with Julio Jones who left the game late with an injury. Continue reading →

Ever notice how much influence SouthwestAirlines seems to have over local leaders these days?

They sneeze and Kansas City’s movers and shakers are right there with the handkerchief—and a hardy Gesundheit.

Okay, that may be slightly overstating our relationship with the # 1 carrier (in terms of arrivals and departures at KCI) but they sure get lots of attention when it comes to future terminal planning at the airport.

For the record I agree with Southwest’s single terminal push for KCI.

So what is the Dallas-based carrier up to itself in the near future?

How about a new reservation system projected for May 2017 travel and beyond?

According to a recent earnings call, airline executives assured that the switch will be mostly invisible to travelers and that the company has been bulking up call center staffing as it trains for the new system which, as reported by Business Travel News, is already in use for Southwest’s international flights.

CEO Gary Kelly stresses that the new system “is behindSouthwest.com, where we’ll have a new reservation engine.”

“Customers won’t know that they’re making a booking in a new system,” he said.

The Chiefs are a 5 point underdog. Why? On the road, and the Falcons have a big time scoring offense with a poor defense. Plus the Chiefs are coming off a big win and may let down.

The good news is KC is getting Jeremy Maclin back and perhaps Dee Ford.

If the Chiefs do nearly as well on defense as they did in Denver, it’s likely a KC will net a close win, if not….look for a big loss.

The biggest question: can Chiefs QB Alex Smith bounce back in the final five games to be a better quarterback?

Will he run? Can he pass downfield more than once a game and hit the receiver? We’ll soon find out.

Can Tyreek Hill make a big difference again?

Not only that but KC faces Oakland on Thursday night at Arrowhead with the temps maybe below 20 degrees. The Raiders quarterback dislocated his finger last week but played hurt and won the game.

Clearly a win at Atlanta and a win at Arrowhead against the Raiders likely puts KC in the drivers seat to win the West – maybe even with home field advantage all the way.

New England lost Rob Gronkowski – which could cost them a game or two.

However a loss to the Falcons likely means a wild card berth for KC. It drops the Chiefs to 8-4 and another loss is likely with their final four games all tough ones. Because 11-5 or 10-6 will not win the West and playoffs on the road are not a good thing for KC. Continue reading →

Jimmie “JJ” Walker has been coming to Kansas City and Stanford’s for nearly 25 years. During which time the man has stayed in the news and remained relevant.

In just the past couple months Walker made the cover of Rolling Stone and was interviewed on CNN just before the third presidential debate between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.

Why would CNN interview Jimmie?

Walker has had his own talk show on radio for years and has been focused on politics. Plus he leans Republican.

It’s also well known that he was dating Republican bomb thrower Ann Coulter. Two years ago People Magazine did an entire spread on the top 100 pop culture stars that mattered the past 100 years and Jimmy came in No. 25, not bad.

Walker was discovered in New York by long time talk show host and comic David Brenner. As Walker’s career exploded in the 1970’s Brenner, David Letterman and Jay Leno wrote for JJ. He was a regular at the Comedy Store in LA but was also part owner of the then new Improv on Melrose.

Jimmie’s career soared to the top in the 1970w with his smash hit, “Good Times.” Today it’s considered one of the all time classic sitcoms and is on daily all over the world. Continue reading →

What better way to harness the holiday spirit than critique my former home-away-from-home, the Kansas City Star.

You may recall I let my subscription lapse last year before hopping back aboard last summer. The break allowed me to take a fresh look at the Star.

Not surprisingly, my first reaction was negative.

Tons of white space in the newspaper’s redesign but it just really work. By comparison to USA Today, for example, it looked amateurish and small town.

Maybe it was the editor’s failure to make good on the pledge of ramping up news coverage with more cutting edge investigative pieces. No small feat given that most of the investigative reporters had been axed or flew the coup.

Instead, readers continued to be fed a diet of day-old, filler national news and alongside boring local columnists like Mary Sanchez.

All of that said, things are looking up at 18th & Grand.

For starters, the lion’s share of the newspaper’s long-in-the-tooth Baby Boomer writers have bit the dust and are being replaced by younger reporters infusing the Star with fresh blood and ideas. Unfortunately, they’re still under the thumbs of old school editors, but at least things are starting to look up.

No Super Bowl had the drama of last night’s OT, come from behind monster victory by our Kansas City Chiefs…

Alex Smith, I want to apologize to you sir.

THIS IS YOUR TEAM NOW, WIN LOSE OR DRAW.

Smith who has been under fire by everyone, including me, was heroic last night. He never gave up when he had to do it and drive for scores. o

This is now and for this season Smith’s team.

The Chiefs now more than ever buy into the soul of Alex Smith. Yes, he can do it. Even if they don’t win the AFC, last night was one for the books. The hardest hitting game of our time.

In Mile High, where its hard to breath, the Chiefs outlasted, out defended and finally outscored the World Champs. This win puts them into the playoffs, a loss likely would have ended their season. They refused to lose.

I was simply delighted.

Now about Tyreek Hill…

Not since Gale Sayers in 1965 – over 50 years ago – has a player scored three touchdowns, a punt return, running and receiving TD.

Sunday’s Denver game may decide the post season questions for both Denver and KC…

The two teams are fairly equal.

However the game being at Denver gives the Broncos an edge. More importantly is the poor play of Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith. As I’ve said, mentioned he has played with some issues that are not his fault. Things like no Jeremy Maclin and an offensive line that is average at best.

And without a running game – which has slowed down – Smith is not the same. With his age and injuries he’s on the trending downside of his career.

The Chiefs need defensive help as well. Marcus Peters and Dee Ford are badly needed back on the field, Justin Houston needs to show up and be of value the rest of the season.

A loss to Denver dropping KC to 7-4 would likely knock out any chance to win the division. Oakland is 8-2 now. A win keeps them in the hunt.

Right now the Chiefs are playing simply for a wild card.

Their remaining games are all going to be tough – the Raiders, Chargers there, Broncos here, Titans, Falcons – we could lose many of those the way our offense has played all season.

And remember, our defense has been bend don’t break; we rank near the bottom in every defensive category, except turnovers. Without our defense stealing the football, we’d have another three losses now. Continue reading →

A preliminary to Xmas, we eat the same meal – turkey, gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie – just add eggnog.

And we have three NFL games, day and night.

The Colts lost QB Andrew Luck, so a Steelers win is all but a sure thing. However they are the road team and are a 9 point favorite. Sounds like a tease game with Dallas. The Cowboys are the best team in the NFL at 9-1 and play at home against a good Washington Redskins team.

But if we tease those two games it’s Dallas -1 instead of -7 and Steelers – 3 instead of the 9.

The early game today is Detroit at home vs. the Vikings at -2 – tough call, but I like the Lions.

The Chiefs don’t play until Sunday night against the Denver Broncos, last year’s Super Bowl Champs minus Peyton Manning.

The Broncos are a three loss team and in second place behind Oakland. The Chiefs fell to 7-3 with an upset loss last week to the Buc’s. So this game may be a make it or break it for KC and Alex Smith.

Smith stunk last week and has not played well all year. Our defense makes plays, but without Dee Ford and Marcus Peters, a win is unlikely. My guess is Peters plays, and Dee Ford is a question mark.

We all know KC’S a great placed to live with the amenities and comforts of a major metropolitan area sans the big city headaches of traffic and crime.

Still everybody who’s anybody – from politicians to business bigwigs to members of the local media – insist on blowing things out of proportion to convince people we’re not just a bunch of flyover losers.

You know the drill.

We claim we draw 300,000 people were at the Plaza Lighting Ceremony when only 20,000 or so showed up. That the Kansas City Royals’ World Series celebration drew 800,000 as opposed to the approximately 150,000 who were actually there.

“Kansas City journalism has lost one of its greatest voices,” Fannin wrote. “We lived vicariously through his columns and travels. He was our Hemingway, and his work is there to be discovered by generations of new fans. We will never forget him or his beautiful words.”

I mean they both did work at the Star – Hemingway for however many months and Gueswelle forever…

Seriously though, Gusewelle was an eccentric octogenarian who had a way with words when it came to the craft of writing. What he didn’t have was much of interest or significance to say about anything much outside of pets and about the simple or cranky things in life in and around Kansas City.

“Gusewelle was a good writer but he was very politically correct and preachy and he got more and more strident as time went on. On a scale of one to ten compared to Hemingway, Gusewelle was a two at best. And that’s being generous.” Continue reading →

I was among the first in our local media to predict that Trump would get the nomination and possibly win it all. Yes, I was upset with some of his comments, but always said that in real life perms, he had no real baggage. No Benghazi, no File Gate, no actual political scandals or skeletons in his closet like Hillary Clinton.

I did think it was an uphill battle towards the end and likely a Hillary win, but I always said that Trump had a slugger’s chance. And he of course pulled it off. Remember all the comments here saying he had zero shot! Remember how smug Harley was?

OMG, now many of my best friends who knew I was for Trump are all so pissed at me.

One of my very best pals was telling me Trump was not my president the other day and when I said, le’ts see what he does before we start hating on him, he HUNG UP ON ME!

Wow.

The feelings are that strong.

Even my stripper ex girlfriend, Nicci, who works now as a hair stylist at the Legends and wanted to go out with me again, texted me on election night that we no longer can be friends after I texted her the Donald had won. WTF?.

Being a Trump fan isn’t easy, huh?

Few writers here on any of the blogs I look at or the KC Starwere behind Trump. Yet he won pretty easily as it turned out.

When your offense is last in the NFL in picking up 3rd downs, your defense is near last in defending the pass and run, guess what?

You’re no Super Bowl contender – not at all.

Bring on TONY ROMO, PLEASE!

Chiefs’ QB Alex Smith is a nice guy.

He’s managed the team on a B level at best and now that has fallen. He can no longer throw deep. His kinda bomb to Tyreek Hill in the second quarter should have been a touchdown. Hill had his guy beat by 5 plus yards, but the 40 yard semi bomb was short and Hill had to come back to it.

Result: No touchdown, just a catch.

The Andy Reid call at the close of second half with the Chiefs at the Tampa 4 yard line and goal to go…let’s see we just had Travis Kelce out with a leg injury – he just returned to the game – hey, let’s do a jet sweep with Travis.

Really.

The play lost 7 yards and no touchdown. Now the Chiefs had to settle for a field goal. Good call, Andy.

And how about that smart punt? Down 12-10, Reid decided to punt instead of trying a go ahead field goal that was makeable at 54 yards. Our kicker has been outstanding of late. Nope, we punt and then Tampa moves the ball at will, as they did all day. Continue reading →